Friday, July 14, 2017

Free Friday (“FL&R”) – July 14

Free and Legal Downloads? Yes, at least temporarily. Bands often temporarily permit free downloads of their releases. The end of an offer may be based on the expiration of a set period of time or on a limited number of downloads. But at least for now, here are songs that qualify as Free, Legal and Recommended (FL&R) downloads.

Finding songs that can be legally downloaded is easy. The difficult task is to find legally downloadable music that we recommend. Our plan is to post at least one FL&R song each Friday.

“A Year Ago” is characterized by a “vocal crescendo.” It begins with lead singer Stephan Joffe establishing the storyline. The instrumental support is important and appealing, but it remains in the background. A step in the vocal crescendo is taken at 0:32, when other members of Birds of Bellwoods enter. It sounds as if all three contribute - Adrian Morningstar, Chris Blades, and Kintaro Akiyama. The voices are sufficiently similar to create a lush pattern, while the arrangement textures the pattern. The next step in the crescendo is at the 1:24 mark, when the chorus becomes choral.

Birds of Bellwoods are from Toronto, Canada. The members are Stephan Joffe (lead vocals, mandolin), Adrian Morningstar (guitar, vocals), Chris Blades (banjo, guitar, vocals), and Kintaro Akiyama (upright bass, vocals). “A Year Ago” is the first single from their forthcoming album, “Victoria.”

Lone Kodiak is a trio based in Los Angeles. They are Dainéal Parker (vocals, guitar, keys), Daniel Alden (bass), and Andrew Smith (drums). For their song “Calm Down,” they added the beauty of a female vocalist and the grandeur of strings.The voice belongs to Alex Rhodes and the strings were provided by violinist Stephan Hovsepian.

“Calm Down” will be on an upcoming double EP, “Feet in the Water,” which is due this summer.